Trouble expressing emotions.

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Hi,

I was diagnosed quite young with high functioning autism, although have rarely viewed it as a bad thing as my mum - who worked in special needs childcare - had a very progressive view towards it, and taught me to see it as a strength rather than a weakness.

Furthermore, to an extent I was able to learn to control parts of it, such as my ability to recognise how other people are feeling.

Besides social/unfamiliar situations (and crossing roads), there is one thing that still really bugs me and that is not my ability to understand other people, but their ability to understand me.

When other people are frustrated or angry they don't need to say anything for people to know. In contrast, I could be severely depressed/anxious and people wouldn't know the difference between that and me being happy/relaxed.

This is especially damaging as I get older, as there are times when I have a lot to do (still being in uni and also running a company) and can be very stressed, but my inability to communicate emotion either verbally or non-verbally leads to more stress as people don't realise the amount of pressure I'm under/amount I have on my plate, and so don't see a problem with adding more things for me to do.

Has anyone here found a way to learn how to better communicate their emotions with the people they need to? Or failing that, I found these interesting reversible wrist-bands on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTISTIC-REVERSIBLE-WRIST-BAND-AMAZING-AUTISM-COMMUNICATE-EMOTIONS-AWARENESS-NEW-/400325127132) to help autistic kids show how they're feeling... Does anyone know of an adult-sized wristband of the same concept?

Many Thanks,

Adam.

I don't know if there is a similar adult sized version of this, but I could really use one. I tend to have a problem where people misinterpret my happy/neutral state as being upset and still being totally oblivious when I actually am upset.

I've often thought about hanging some kind of sign on my office door indicating how approachable I am when I'm sitting in there (something like a green sheet if paper means feel free to bother me, yellow means only talk to me if it's necessary, red means stay away)... But it would require some explanation for my coworkers, which could be difficult.

http://www.zazzle.ca/silentspeak_communication_system_key_button-145778895658716038

You don't have to buy the button necessarily, but the color coded system works well.